Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement

Published: May 30th, 2022

At the International Journal of Medical Students (IJMS) we strive to institute a platform that supports, promotes, and practices a non-discriminatory policy of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to facilitate the communication and dissemination of scientific literature at the hands of early-career scientists. We promote a culture of impartiality where all individuals are treated with respect and a safe environment of global mutual coordination is maintained among the authors, editorial board members, editorial team members, regional ambassadors, and country ambassadors. Our resolution to encourage and promote diversity is pivotal to strengthening the vision of our journal. Therefore, we aim to reduce geographical bias, and celebrate fairness in our perspectives by advocating diversity in our local policies. Over the years, IJMS has developed actionable policies to promote diversity and gender equality by,

• Developing an editorial team with impartial representation of people from a variety of cultural, regional, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Ensuring and encouraging balanced representation of women on the editorial team as well as on the executive committee.
• Encouraging researchers from diverse geographical regions to apply for various leadership and managerial posts.
• Maintaining equal representation of historically underrepresented World Bank regions such as 'Latin America and the Caribbean'.
• Following the principles of DEI when inviting reviewers and maintaining diversity in terms of gender, geographical region, and career stage during the review process.

We recognize that there are several dimensions of diversity in numerous domains such as in gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, geography, career stage, religious beliefs, socioeconomic level, national origin, language, marital status, and political ideology. This multidimensional commitment to uphold a strong value system of diversity, equity, and inclusion is applied to all areas of our editorial activities i.e., content, manuscript processing, internal reviewing, external reviewing, and manuscript decision. IJMS further aims to develop; opportunities for equitable participation, and a sustainable environment for impartial distribution of scientific literature. We expect everyone involved in the editorial process to resonate with similar values of zero tolerance for academic bias and publication inequity. Therefore, to support and materialize these goals, we have established a committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion which aims to meet regularly and ensure maintenance of equitable opportunities, as well as provide a biannual report containing; current measures of diversity, and suggestions to improve overall DEI status of the journal.

Related publications in IJMS:

• Gender Bias and Stereotypes in Medicine: A Medical Student Experience
• Black Students’ Perception of Belonging: A Focus Group Approach with Black Students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
• Assessing Medical Students’ Self-Perceived Preparedness to Care for Gender Diverse Patients: A Survey Study
• Folk Medicine in the Philippines: A Phenomenological Study of Health-Seeking Individuals
• Raising Gender Equity Voices: Reflections from an International Virtual Assembly in Global Surgery
• Teaching Cultural Competency through Global Health Education at Weill Cornell Medicine
• Multiculturalism in Healthcare: A Review of Current Research into Diversity Found in the Healthcare Professional Population and the Patient Population
• Pre-Existing Social Conditions: A Call to Prevent the Perpetuation of Gender Inequalities in Research Production during COVID-19
• Trends and Challenges in Rural Homeless Veterans in the United States
• Learning from Hispanic Mentees: A Reflection on Cultural and Socioeconomic Differences
• Cultural Placement: My Experience In A Remote Fly-in Indigenous Community In Northern Ontario, Canada
• Among others.